Reasonable buff to war

[Kabooa]

The reason why people proclaim WAR to be in a good spot is because it REALLY is in a good spot. The job itself was lauded throughout all of SB, and there was little objection whenever WAR was praised as the prime example of great class design.

Uh, you sure about that?

I remember launch it wasn't all that well liked, including through the savage patch and 4.1 adjustments. And then unga bunga 4.2 came along and at that point the job became a meme. Sure, people had fun with it, but I wouldn't go around calling that the prime example of great class design. I think Paladin gets to take that crown before the Warrior does, and from personal opinion I'd still put SB Dark Knight in front of it.

And then you just expand to other roles and I'd count like five others who could claim it before Warrior. Stormblood Bard without much question, Red Mage and Samurai (Though it was their expansion, so no adaptation from previous iterations had to be factored in), SB Black Mage, and personally I'd say SB Machinist too.

[Hierro]

Uh, you sure about that?

I remember launch it wasn't all that well liked, including through the savage patch and 4.1 adjustments. And then unga bunga 4.2 came along and at that point the job became a meme. Sure, people had fun with it, but I wouldn't go around calling that the prime example of great class design. I think Paladin gets to take that crown before the Warrior does, and from personal opinion I'd still put SB Dark Knight in front of it.

And then you just expand to other roles and I'd count like five others who could claim it before Warrior. Stormblood Bard without much question, Red Mage and Samurai (Though it was their expansion, so no adaptation from previous iterations had to be factored in), SB Black Mage, and personally I'd say SB Machinist too.

Oh, right. I forgot about that whole segment where stance dancing halved your guage. Such a blunder had to be wiped from my memory. However, the point remains that was something carried over from HW and maintained roughly afterwards. 4.2 changes aside, we still kept that main identity and design philosophy.

Now, while PLD was effectively the best tank, I wouldn't call it better designed due to how its tank stance never felt good going into, how slide-casting had to be performed to excel in, and other stuff that I don't care to get into. I loved SB DRK, more so than WAR, but that's preferences, and not something I'd attribute to design either.

Point remains, WAR's awesome right now.

[Kabooa]

Point remains, WAR's awesome right now.

Eh. Personally, the only time I got excited while leveling it was when Nascent Glint came online, and even then it should have just been a Bloodbath upgrade. It's kind of in the same park as Red Mage for me.

It's got no new toys, and any new conflicts that could have happened were immediately curtailed.

[Shurrikhan]

Uh, you sure about that?

I remember launch it wasn't all that well liked, including through the savage patch and 4.1 adjustments. And then unga bunga 4.2 came along and at that point the job became a meme. Sure, people had fun with it, but I wouldn't go around calling that the prime example of great class design. I think Paladin gets to take that crown before the Warrior does, and from personal opinion I'd still put SB Dark Knight in front of it.

And then you just expand to other roles and I'd count like five others who could claim it before Warrior. Stormblood Bard without much question, Red Mage and Samurai (Though it was their expansion, so no adaptation from previous iterations had to be factored in), SB Black Mage, and personally I'd say SB Machinist too.

I think those complaints, following the removal of half-gauging and the shared recasts on Inner Release and Unchained, were mostly just based in Warrior having a lower output floor than the other tanks yet still being eclipsed, at the time, by PLD at the highest levels of play, despite PLD having clearly stronger utility and less cost to its mitigation. Apart from Shake it Off being a complete meme, it was largely just a matter of... tuning.

4.1 Warrior would have been perfect to me if only

• Inner Release had also doubled gauge generation from weaponskills, to make it more useful in dungeons and to give it a little more ebb and flow against Infuriate.
• Gauge bonuses based on gauge recently spent instead of gauge readied. Sharper bonuses, more quickly fading. (Fell Cleave in order to add crit chance to a Storm's Path, rather than waiting until 100 gauge to Fell Cleave.)
• Defiance also affected healing from healing abilities, not just from healing spells. (No more accidental massive healing efficiency disparity, and more reasons to stance-dance.)
• Inner Beast and Steel Cyclone both had lifesteal, and all lifesteal was increased to 50% instead of an awkward by-level tapering modifier of... what, 28% by level 80?
• Inner Beast and Steel Cyclone no longer ignored Defiance's damage penalty, but their potency was increased to compensate, giving Unchained more burst potential.
• Similar to Enhanced Infuriate, gauge spent in Deliverance would reduce the CD on Unchained and gauge spent in Defiance would reduce the CD of Inner Release. This would mitigate its mitigation costs over time while playing further upon the idea of Equilibrium. (Some similar-ish changes on the other two tanks.)
• Deliverance/Defiance shared key. Automatically put in Deliverance upon swapping to Warrior. Can no longer accidentally drop stance. (PLD gets the same for Sw/Sh Oath.)

But alas, uga bunga "I hit hurd" WAR won out and the rest is history (mere prologue to the the nigh-one-mechanic WAR we have and will likely to continue to have).